Merlin watched as Mordret grudgingly signed the contract, then he simply made a silent wish and the pen and contract floated up and signed his signature.
Immediately the sequence completed, the contract crumpled and dissolved into gray mist that shot into Mordret's chest.
Seeing the latter's confused gaze, he spoke up.
"That's the contract taking effect, and anytime you challenge me to a soul duel again, you'll have to repeat this game"
In this way, if Mordret ever feels confident, he'd have to face his luck against him and honestly he wished for it too, this way, he'd get to squeeze a few more things from the mirror kid.
Honestly in every sense, he liked Mordret's ability to the core, even if you take out the numerous escape paths, and body jumping he could do, of all the characters in Shadow Slave, Mordret was the one who could be considered closest to being immortal.
That was simply because his death was literally another person entirely, just by hiding the fellow away, he was one step at the door of immortality.
Nephis was close too, but her aspect was simply healing, sure it could heal an arm or maybe even half her torso, but split her head from her body and then what?
She's dead as dead could be.
Master Jet was already dead while still living, but drain her of essence and she would be put in the ground forever.
Current Sunny was even worse, a bullet to the head and he'd be done for good, protagonist halo or no, he only survived that long because no one had gotten a good headshot.
Compared to them, Mordret had only two ways to die, one was that other Mordret, and the other was in a soul duel, the soul duel was even less of a risk, if he wasn't winning, he could simply quit and leave.
He did the same thing when Sunny was about to end him before their second nightmare happened.
And best of all, even if you killed all of his existing vessels, his consciousness would just jump to the nearest reflection and he escaped.
If that happened, even he himself had no way of catching Mordret, so the more he thought about it, the more he wished Mordret would challenge him to a soul duel.
As Mordret didn't say anything, he shrugged.
"Since you have no objections… let the game begin"
He pointed to the gun on the table, "the game is simple… the gun over there has six bullet slots, but there's only one bullet inside, I'll spin the cartridge so it's location will be random"
He smiled and spread his hands.
"Then we'll take chances commiting suicide w with the gun, the unlucky one loses"
Mordret's eyes narrowed, but his lips curved to a smile, "you're crazy…"
"That sounds like something Sunny would say…"
He smiled and immediately picked up the gun, spinning the cartridge and pointed it to his temples.
Click—
Bang!
His head immediately exploded on the first shot.
He had lost the first round.
The body of the exploded head didn't fall, instead countless illusory worms formed from them and crawled upwards, coalescing into the form of Merlin's head, and then his facial features.
In a matter of seconds, his head had returned to its previous state.
"That wasn't so bad now was it?" He smiled, then he inspected himself.
"Ah… the scribe ability, seems you're sufficiently lucky Mordret"
Mordret also checked himself, information about the ability appeared in his mind as if it had always been there.
"This is indeed a powerful ability…" He smiled.
"Round two…"
Merlin smiled calmly and picked up the gun again, he opened the cartridge, placed another bullet inside, spinned it then pointed at his temples again.
Click—
Only the clicking sound echoed.
He smiled and passed the gun to Mordret with a smile.
"Your turn…"
Mordret's smile faded as he picked up the gun and pointed it to his temples, his actions were slow and weary, after all he could die in this place, although the contract stated otherwise, he still couldn't trust Merlin in the slightest.
He held the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
Click—
No additional sound.
Mordret heaved a sigh of relief and passed it to him.
"Hahaha… the look on your face is wonderful" he laughed because Mordret could no longer conceal his fear and relief.
"Oh… my dear Mordret, the game still continues"
He picked up the gun.
Click—
He passed it to Mordret and reminded.
"Three shots left…" he was already grinning from ear to ear at Mordret's expression.
Mordret slowly took the gun.
Click—
Bang!
Mordret's head shattered like broken glass, exploded into different fragments, those fragments stopped halfway, floated in the air for less than a second, then immediately moved to reform his shattered head.
Safe to say, Mordret's expression was one of dread as his head reformed.
'No… can't laugh yet… I must hold it in'
Merlin's lungs were at their limits, then he broke into a smile.
"It seems like I got nothing… or rather, your affinity to nothing"
Without giving Mordret any time to react, he picked up the gun, reloaded it and held it to his head.
"Final round"
Click—
Mordret tried his turn.
Click—
He took the gun.
Click—
Mordret picked up the gun.
Click—
"Two shots left…" he smiled as he picked up the gun.
Click—
Only the sound of an empty trigger echoed.
"Looks like it's your loss Mordret"
He didn't pass the gun, but instead pointed it to Mordret.
Mordret's eyes flashed with fear as he pulled the trigger.
Click—
Bang!
"Hahaha! Hahaha!" He burst into maniacal laughter.
"Look at that Mordret… it's my perfect victory! I win!"
His voice echoed throughout the castle as Mordret's body shattered like illusory glass, and his consciousness returned to his body.
He smiled and looked around, but Mordret had already made a run for it.
"Haha… I really should have made it a game of five" he chuckled.
He had already recovered his scribe ability back, the game had ended with him gaining an additional ability.
Honestly, Mordret had been stupid if he ever thought the game was fair in the first place, although the contract was valid, it was never stated that tampering with the gun was a violation.
All he did was simply graft the three corresponding outcomes he wanted to the gun, the process was engraved even before Mordret signed the contract.
As for the powers he received, those were clearly not random at all, he had also used a little bit of probability manipulation to deal with what ability he lost and those he received.
And that was why he chose the affinity to nothing.
Earlier when he first arrived in this world, he was completely sure of who he was, and knowing who he truly was would help him if he ever needed to resist the erosion of the mist of nothingness, but the more he learnt, and the stronger he got, he began to doubt his identity.
Although he suspected it was probably one of CW's plots, he couldn't escape the fact that it had gotten him good.
And in this state of mind, if he ever approached the mist, he would be having an unpleasant time inside.
Plus it also came with better characteristics, with the affinity to nothing, the technique he learnt from Eurys had been elevated to a new level, now he could even bypass the senses of a Supreme if he wanted, although that would take a lot of concentration.
His face slowly returned to normal as he turned around,
'I'm really starting to miss the gang… too bad that's not my life anymore''
He sighed and turned around, his reason for coming out had been achieved, and now he was going back.
"Why do you always take random walks like this?" A voice sounded from behind him.
"It helps me feel better… staying inside the castle all day isn't really pleasant, I'm not Lady Revel after all" he smiled.
"If she heard that, she'd make your life a whole lot worse" Eubin chuckled.
He smiled as he turned around.
"I doubt she will, after all I can easily teleport her to an open space with no shade"
Eubin hissed, "that's just bullying at this point"
"A saint bullied by a mere master… no one would believe such a joke" he scoffed as he walked towards the castle.
Eubin followed beside him as she snickered.
"As if… I'm sure you probably have some move up your sleeve to deal with her"
"It's not a move up my sleeve, it's just the right combination of abilities… and even with that, she's still a bit difficult to beat because of her abilities" he shrugged.
"By the way, Bin… I have something I need you to relay to Her Majesty"
"You and your weird way of addressing Mother…" Eubin sighed, "what do you want?"
"Help me tell her that after Seishan returns, we should throw a big party, and also invite everyone from the forgotten shore that joined the Song domain" Merlin explained.
His plan was rather simple: round up the people he needed, and a few more, and then stuff them with corruption from Sefirah Castle, and when they get their point of light, investigate them, then finally invite them to join the Secret Order.
A foolproof plan that had a lot of obvious plot holes, but it would still work out.
"Sure I can pass on your message, but on one condition" Eubin smiled.
"That is?" He tilted his head.
"You have to have a spar with me"
"As long as you pass on the message and her Majesty agrees, I'll spar with you as many times as you wish"
She nodded, "I guess I'll look forward to it"
…
Somewhere in the Immortal Flame mansion…
Inside the meeting room in the mansion, four ladies sat together, Effie, Nephis, Cassie and Jet.
"Why did you call a meeting?" Cassie asked.
"It's nothing much… just wanted to discuss some things" Effie answered slyly.
Nephis and Jet looked confused but they still listened.
"What things?" Nephis asked.
Effie smiled widely, "it's just about a few rumours flying here and there"
"What rumours?" Jet asked, confused.
"It's about Cassie's little relationship~" Effie said teasingly.
Cassie sighed helplessly, lowering her head as her ears turned slightly red.
"Uhm… so why am I here then?" Jet asked.
Effie's smile widened.
"Well that's because it involves your dear student as well~"
"Then why am I here?" Nephis tilted her head.
"Well that's so that you could learn a thing or two" Effie patted Nephis' shoulder.
"Is this really necessary?" Cassie said in a muffled voice.
"My my~ you can't escape this one" Effie teased.
"So the rumours say that you have a boyfriend… and he takes you on dates all the time"
Effie's smile nearly tore her face as she said in a dreamy voice.
"And that you're always in a good mood when you return… So tell me, is your 'date' really that interesting?"
By now, Cassie's face had reddened completely as she asked in a low voice.
"Why are you so interested?"
"Why? Because it's pretty boy of course, do you know how hard it is to even get him flustered? Tell me Cas what spell did you use on him? Did Noctis teach you a thing or two?" Effie bombarded her with questions.
"Now I'm kind of interested…" Jet leaned closer.
"Not you too…" Cassie sighed, "can I choose not to answer?"
"No~"
"Haaa… well Merlin and I go out occasionally, but because I can't use my abilities when I'm alone with him, we usually spend our time in his soul sea" Cassie explained shortly in a low voice.
"Huh? That's all?" Effie asked, unsatisfied.
"What more do you want?"
"Details Cas… we need the details" Effie exclaimed.
Seeing that Effie wouldn't let it go, Cassie finally gave in and gave them the details of the outings she had with Merlin, and all through the story, Effie kept grinning uncontrollably, Jet had a light smile on her face, and Nephis was strangely interested in the story too. (woman instincts…)
"...And that's all that has happened between us" Cassie concluded.
"Wow~ so pretty boy was that romantic… I've collected enough blackmail material… thanks Cas" Effie chuckled darkly.
Jet asked, "So have you guys made it official?"
"Uh… not yet" Cassie answered softly.
"It's definitely pretty boy's fault for keeping you this long… I'll have a talk with him soon" Effie proclaimed, then turned to Nephis.
"So princess… Did you pick up anything?"
"Pick up what?" Nephis and confused.
Effie palmed her forehead and sighed defeatedly.
"You don't have to worry princess… I'll talk to doofus for you"
"Huh?" Nephis tilted her head causing Effie and Jet to sigh again and Cassie giggled.
"Wait a moment… it's just now I'm realizing a few things" Jet spoke up, "how the hell did you get into Merlin's soul sea?"
"Oh… I forgot you don't know about it, but pretty boy has this thing where he can pull your soul into his own soul sea" Effie explained.
"So your souls spent the date together?" Jet asked Cassie.
"Uhm… not exactly, there is a way to enter his soul sea with your body too" Cassie explained.
"Huh? There's a thing like that?" Effie asked.
Cassie nodded.
"So that means you're getting premium time with pretty boy… what a sweet couple"" Effie teased.
"Anyways… since we've heard the details of your date, it's time to have our 'in-depth' talk about Merlin"
"Ugh" Cassie shrunk visibly.
Effie continued.
"So let's all say how we met him, and how he acted… we'll start in the order of who knew him first"
"I guess that should be me" Jet spoke up.
.
.
.
.
.
A/N— Obvious filler… I'm wondering if I should write the rest of the meeting or skip it.
If you guys vote it in, I'll just edit it into the already written chap… if not, we'll continue.
P.S Don't forget to create characters...